No contract yet for school administrators
Board, administrators tight-lipped about why there’s no agreement yet

BY DANIELLE MEDINA
Correspondent

Negotiations between the Brick Township Board of Education and the district’s administrators are continuing, but officials are mum on the status of the new contract.

Referencing a letter received from an attorney at the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, of which the Brick Township Association of School Administrators is a member, several board members and other officials refused to comment on any details of the contract or what was delaying an agreement after Thursday’s board meeting.

According to one member, the board was “firmly cautioned” against publicly discussing any aspect of the contract because it has not yet been agreed upon.

A new three-year contract was not approved as a result of a 3-3 vote on Aug. 30. Board members Dr. William Boyan, Catherine Lindenbaum and Board President Daniel Woska voted in favor of the agreement and Sharon Kight, John Talty and Frank Pannucci voted against it. Board member John Paredes was unable to attend the meeting.

At that meeting, Talty cited changes in wording and the elimination of some clauses in the new contract as his reasons for voting against it.

Pannucci added that he was unhappy with the buy-out agreement in the new contract, which would increase the amount of money paid to a tenured administrator for accrued sick time while shortening the length of required service to the district.

“This contract is taking us a step backward,” Pannucci said. “It seems like some of the strides we made in earlier contracts has been undone by this one.”

But Boyan, a member of the board’s negotiating committee, defended the contract, saying it was in the best interest of the district.

“If we want to continue to ask people to put out the extra effort, we need to reward them,” Boyan said.

The district’s contract with its administrators expired on June 30. Once approved, the new contract will run retroactively from July 1 through June 30, 2007.

Business Administrator Nicholas Puleio said the contract went back to the negotiating committee and he hoped the board would be able to revote on a contract at its next public meeting, on Sept. 23, but made no guarantees that would happen.

The Brick Township Association of School Administrators is made up of 46 principals, assistant principals and subject supervisors.

Brick Township High School Principal Dennis Filippone, a representative for the administrators, also refused to comment on the contract or the negotiations following the Sept. 9 meeting.

In other business, the board announced on Thursday that it would be reviewing its policy on the way in which motions are placed on the board’s agendas.

According to the current policy, a board member that wants to place an item on the agenda needs to call either the superintendent’s office or the business administrator’s office and make a request for an item to be added.

Woska said that the board, depending on the item, was considering having the appropriate committee review the item to be added. Then a recommendation would be made to the superintendent or business administrator as to whether it should be placed on the agenda.

The issue arose from Talty’s numerous attempts at several public meetings to advance a motion that would request proposals from new brokers for the district’s health insurance. All of Talty’s motions were denied by Woska because they were not originally on the agenda and were not of an “emergent nature.”

At the board’s Aug. 30 meeting, the board voted 4-2 not to rehire Delaware Valley Financial Group (DVFG), which had come under scrutiny for a possible questionable relationship between former board member John Bendokas and Thomas Schirmer, DVFG’s managing partner. Several board members also requested that the proposals for other insurance brokers be solicited in order to determine whether the district’s rates were competitive.

At the Sept. 9 meeting, Puleio said that the business and finance committee is “prepared to move forward” and will put out a request for proposals when Paredes, who has been unavailable due to a personal matter, returns.